The Best of Independent Comics

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Don't let these comics fly under your radar in 2012.

By Joey Esposito & Jesse Schedeen

We here at IGN Comics pride ourselves on the depth of review coverage. We love digging into the week's hottest books and breaking them down, for better or for worse. But with so many comics coming to shelves month in and month out, we thought it best to break down the ten absolute can't-miss comics in a variety of categories: Marvel, DC, Vertigo/Icon, and the independents.

The purpose of this list is to detail the books that are currently available on shelves and have earned your hard-earned cash heading into the new year.

As much as we love the big superhero epics that are the focus of Marvel and DC, the independent comics scene is where you'll find some of the hardest working and most unique talent in comics. When you look at many of the top names in mainstream comics (Bendis, Remender, Fraction, Hickman, etc.), you can trace their careers back to one very important place: the independent comics scene.

If you love new ideas and new blood, make it a point to support independent comics in 2012. Because the distribution system of comics is all but broken, it's more important than ever to pre-order the titles you are interested in and tell your comic book shop ahead of time. If not, many fantastic comics might never make it into your hands.

We're used to promising new books being canceled or reduced down to mini-series thanks to low sales. But every once in a while, the exact opposite happens. Green Wake debuted as a mini-series at Image before being upgraded to ongoing status thanks to a winning combination of rave reviews and healthy sales.

Green Wake is an unsettling, surreal horror tale inspired by the work of David Lynch. It follows a girl named Ariel and the other residents of the forgotten town of Green Wake. How did they get there? What explanation is there for the disturbing events that unfold in the streets? Can Ariel ever find the equally mysterious Babylon and a way out of Green Wake?

Green Wake hit hard from the opening scene, and the series has never lost our attention since. And the best part is, rather than wrapping up with issue #7, the series will now continue into 2012 as writer Kurtis Wiebe and artist Riley Rossimo delve more deeply into this mysterious world.

The market only grew tougher and more unforgiving in 2011, but that didn't impact The Walking Dead one bit. Robert Kirkman's signature zombie horror series inched closer to the 100-issue mark this year. It doesn't exactly hurt that the series has a hugely popular television show to bank off of, but it continues to thrive on its own merits as well.

2011 saw Rick Grimes and his dwindling band of allies settle into their new home at the community. And when the zombie hordes invaded, Rick and friends managed to hold the line and avoid another repeat of Woodbury. It was a year of triumphs and tragedies for the characters. And through it all, the quality of the book has remained consistent.

We don't expect the franchise's momentum to slow anytime soon. Between the recent Rise of the Governor spinoff, the return of the TV show in early 2012, and the continued popularity of the comic and its various collected editions, the Walking Dead will continue to dominate the stands.

Event comics have become divisive amongst comic book readers. Some love the coming together of an entire superhero universe that spills into multiple titles, making books one doesn't typically pick up essential reading. Other readers despise events for the very same reason. However, Top Cow has successfully managed to appease both parties with its massive 13-issue event series that launched in 2010 and continues to this day.

While Artifacts has since become an ongoing series, the current story arc is very much continuing the massive event that involves all of Top Cow's biggest and brightest, including Darkness, Witchblade, Magdalena, Cyberforce, Tom Judge and so many more. Better yet, Artifacts succeeds at something else many events are meant to do but rarely succeed in: it's accessible for new readers. Whether Artifacts is your first foray into the Top Cow Universe or simply the most recent, it continues to be a stellar approach to big superhero storytelling that offers a taste of something new amongst the banality of things like Flashpoint and Fear Itself.

It's rare enough to find a book written and penciled by the same creator, much less one that's also inked, lettered, and published by that creator too. Despite this heavy workload, Terry Moore didn't take a break after wrapping up Echo in 2011. Moore moved right into a new creator-owned series called Rachel Rising.

Whereas Strangers in Paradise focused on character and relationship drama and Echo on science fiction, Rachel Rising offers Moore's unique take on the horror genre. The series opens with the titular character waking up in a grave, and focuses on her attempts to understand her predicament and her strange new abilities. As with all of Moore's work, there's a keen grasp of storytelling on display and a strong focus on character dynamics.

Like Strangers in Paradise and Echo, Rachel Rising looks to be another series that starts out strong and only becomes more rewarding over the long haul. We look forward to following this book over the next several years.

Remember Sky High? Though billed as a kid's movie from Disney, it's actually a really fun send-up of the tropes of superhero comics. Similarly, Mark Andrew Smith and Armand Villavert's Gladstone's School for World Conquerors from Image Comics is a look at the opposite end of that spectrum: kids in a school for arch-nemesis villainy. Except things aren't quite as they seem, and the kids may not be as prepared for their lives as supervillains as they previously thought.

Laced with fun characters and stunning, bright, Saturday morning cartoon-style artwork, Gladstone's is an exercise in exploring archetypes without sacrificing unique characterization and world building. This is some of the most fun you'll have with a superhero book from an indie publisher, make no mistake about it.